THE O. T. LAW WAS REPLACED
WITH THE N. T. LAW
V. E. Howard
A person who does not properly divide the Old Testament law from the New Testament covenant is immediately in trouble with God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This matter is so important that God gave His Son to die for man and the Son sacrificed His life, even unto the death on the cross, that the old law might be removed so that man might be redeemed from sin by the atoning blood of Christ; that terms of the new law, the law of grace and truth under Christ, might be observed in order that man might be saved.
When Jesus dies on the cross, the old law was abrogated. It was nailed to the cross, the apostle Paul firmly declared in Colossians 2:14. The apostle, furthermore, affirmed that by reason of death, men have been "delivered from the law," having "become dead to the law by the body of Christ" (Romans 7:1-6).
1. The inspired apostle positively affirmed that the law ws changed. In Hebrews 7:12 he declared, "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." And again, Hebrews 8:13, "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxed old is ready to vanish away."
2. The first was taken away. The apostle declared, "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified (Hebrews 10:9).
3. The apostle mae it very clear that people are subject to the law under which they live. In Romans 3:19 Paul concluded, "What things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law." For example the Jews, under the Old Testament, worshiped God, including the observance of the Sabbath day. However, the Sabbath observance was for the Jews only and was to lat a limited time.
According to Exodus 31:14-17, the Jews were to observe the Sabbath "throughout their generatins;" throughout the dispensation of the law of Moses, until the law of Christ should come, under which there would be neither Jew nor Greek, as explained by Paul in the New Testament (see Galatians 3:23-29).
A fundamental Biblical fact that all students of the Bible must understand is, "Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law."
Today, none, whether Jew of Gentile, is subject to the law of Moses, the old covenant. Christians worship and serve God under the law of Christ. Remember these words of eternal truth: (Are you listening?) "In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old" (Hebrews 8:13), and for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant... (Hebrews 9:15).
If one does not distinguish between the old law and the new law he may find himself stumbling in the shadows of the law and blinded by the smoke of Babylon. The apostle Paul declared that God made him minister of the New Testament (2 Corinthians 3:6). He furthermore made it known that for one to be under the law, that is, the Old Testament law, that Christ shallprofit you nothing" and ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:2-4).
Perhaps one of the most serious matters, relating to rightly dividing the word of truth, is the matter of proper division between the Old Testament and New Testament. Millions of peopple today are in error because they have been misinformed concerning the separation of the Old Testament from the New Testament. Some religious teachers are about as likely to tell one to go to the book of Psalms to learn what to do to be saved, as to go to the book of Acts, the record of New Testament conversions. They may even tell one to go to the book of Deuteronomy, or Leviticus, to learn what God expects and commands of those who worship Him, rather than to the epistles of the New Testament, which directs men in Christian worship. The authority of Christ is exclusive, and total authority is in the New Testament (Matthew 28:18; Colossians 3:17).
-The Holy Scriptures,
The Second Annual Fort Worth Lectures, 1979